Who Owns Fisher & Paykel Refrigerators And Where Are They Made?

When an appliance like a refrigerator breaks, the first thing to decide is whether it’s more cost effective to repair or replace it. Decide to get a new one and you’ll need to navigate the crowded domestic appliance market, which currently hosts a bevy of different manufacturers both familiar and new. One brand you might come across is Fisher & Paykel, which is one of the more historic names in the market.

The company was founded back in 1934 in New Zealand, when Maurice Paykel and Woolf Fisher first decided to import appliances like refrigerators to their homeland. They later began manufacturing their own appliances after the country’s government banned imports, first building them under license before eventually creating their own designs.

After decades as an independent company, Fisher & Paykel was acquired by Haier Group in 2012. Haier was founded in Qingdao, China, in 1984, and remains headquartered there today. It also owns the GE Appliance brand in the U.S., alongside a portfolio of other brands including Candy, Casarte, and Leader. As well as being owned by a Chinese company, some of Fisher & Paykel’s appliances are also made in China. It has additional manufacturing facilities in Italy, Mexico, and Thailand.

In the U.S., Fisher & Paykel offers a range of different refrigerators catered towards the upper end of the market. As well as the typical selection of column refrigerators, French door refrigerators, and bottom freezer fridges, the company also sells wine refrigerators and other specialist undercounter appliances.

Within its lineup are a selection of smart refrigerators, although the features offered generally aren’t anything that makes its products stand out from those sold by other major smart fridge brands. Instead, where Fisher & Paykel shines is in the durability of its high-end refrigerators — in fact, some studies have crowned it the most reliable refrigerator brand on the market.

None of its products are cheap, with its basic refrigerators starting from just over $2,000 and larger, smarter models quickly increasing in price from there. For its Red Dot award-winning 36-inch Series 11 fridge-freezer, buyers can expect to pay at least $11,499. For their money, they’ll receive features like a variable temperature drawer which can be adjusted to better suit a wide variety of fresh foods, a steel-lined interior compartment, and a slimline water dispenser.